


Of impromptus meetings, and their (un)happy consequences

by QueenPotatos



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Academy days, Claude being not any better, Dimitri being awkward, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Time Skip, assassination attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27822751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenPotatos/pseuds/QueenPotatos
Summary: “What’s gotten you?” It would have to be blind not to see something was definitely off with Dimitri tonight and the more it lasted, the more Claude was convinced it had nothing to do with the invisible threat he felt under his skin but with him, or them; had he done something wrong? Had he said something inappropriate? Had he hurt Dimitri in any way? If so, he needed to apologize, but not before knowing what kind of mischief he was charged with.“Nothing. I just have some difficulty concentrating when you’re around.”-Claude often meets Dimitri at night in the Library, and figured long ago they must have the same goals in mind - except the Prince's purpose might be, in fact, a little bit more selfish than his.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 59





	Of impromptus meetings, and their (un)happy consequences

**Author's Note:**

> This is my gift exchange for Rie / birdsuit ! I hope you'll like it, I went with your first prompt !

* * *

Since he entered the library Claude had felt something was off, blame it on his survival skills. His instinct never betrayed him before, and he was more than glad to have brought his dagger with him once more, hidden inside one of his boots.

Sneaking in a place like this, forbidden to the public - or at least, to the students and people of most humble positions - in the middle of the night might not have been his best idea concerning his safety, but his curiosity had always been the only thing that fought against his self preserving sense, pushing him forward to visit dangerous areas he should have avoided in the first place. But what was more beautiful, more rewarding, than to die while searching for the Truth?

His need to find out what the church was hiding from everyone’s eyes was not, unfortunately, what would perhaps cause his misfortune tonight. It was his blood, and the hatred that he got from people who shared half of it. If he thought coming to Fodlan, hence, coming to Garreg Mach would make them sease their murderous intentions on his person, then Claude had been wrong, utterly. It was the third time he felt someone following him here late up at night, and the second he felt in danger. If he added this to the four assaillants he already sent to the grave since the beginning of the year...

“Claude?”

A voice, hushed, startled him. He turned around with an idle smile though, concealing his surprise once he figured out who called him out.

“Your Princeliness! How impromptus to see you here, at this hour of the night! Sneaking out to find the book Seteth forbids us to read?”

The Prince’s cheeks coloured with a crimson pink that even Claude could see in the darkness of the Library, that was enlightened only by a couple of lamps scattered on the desks - nowhere near the bookcases, mind you. For some reasons, Claude wondered if they hadn’t had completely different ideas in mind, and that Dimitri’s didn’t concern anything regarding the Church’s strategy to manipulate the opinion for so long. “I hope I won’t disappoint you by replying with the negative. I have come here to…” He halted, Claude guessed he realized where his words were leading him, to admit the true reason of his presence here, and that he had no intention of sharing it, at least not so soon. “Read books.”

“Oh. How original. Reading books in a Library.”

“And you?” Dimitri asked in a heartbeat, probably to erase that moment of embarrassment from his heart.

“Oh, you know, the usual,” Claude replies, his arms crossed behind his head as he spun around, feigning mischief but actually looking around the corner of the room to make sure no one had followed them here while Dimitri distracted him. “To look for clues about the Church’s wrongdoings and organising a coup behind their back.”

Dimitri gasped, “What?” He almost had his hand on his hip, ready to draw his sword, but Claude stopped him with his candid laugh.

“Relax! I was joking! I’m merely here for the same purpose as you - to read books, what else?”

Both knew what power lay in books though; knowledge was the key to victory in most cases, and even they would need other forces to win: Claude’s ingenuity and Dimitri’s strength alone would only be weapons emptied of purpose without the content they came to find here. 

As his father used to tell him, to contrast with his mother’s saying: Knowledge is Power.

Claude didn’t know what Dimitri came here for and he wouldn’t ask, just as the Heir of Faerghus was doing the same, but it was not the first time they met in the middle of the night here, when they should have been comfortably laying in bed under the warmth of the Monastery’s itchy blanket, and Claude had a feeling it won’t be the last.

That was, of course, if he made it out alive tonight.

Something was still troubling him but Claude couldn’t help but feel relaxed knowing Dimitri would spend some time with him. A part of him felt bad and even thought of renouncing his night investigation, fearing that Dimitri might get targeted on top of him when he had nothing to do with this, but at the same time he wasn’t sure Dimitri would accept to walk him back to his room so soon. Going back alone would make him vulnerable, more than staying here with the Prince and his sword stuck to his hip.

Claude chose his safety over prudence. He chose to stay with Dimitri.

Literally.

“Oh, what are you looking for?”

If the Prince was annoyed by his presence as Claude followed him around while he picked books of his interest, he showed none of it - not even a hint of irritation in his voice when he replied. “I’m reading about the History of the Kingdom.”

Claude hummed, careful not to reveal he didn’t buy it, or if it was true Dimitri was looking at the wrong bookcase. Those were just financial data, uninteresting for mere students, but a real treasure for anyone with a more obscur agenda. Oh, what were you thinking, Your Princeliness? There was definitely more to see behind the mask of the perfect Prince he put a lot of energy in, and Claude loved it. Dimitri was an interesting fellow, contrary to his first impression; he chose not to dwell too much on his poor first impression skills and focused on his own research - ah, yes, what was that book Seteth kept away from him last time he’d been found?

They settled at the same table, unlike the other nights, simply by commodity on Claude’s part - he wanted to be as close as Dimitri’s blade as possible until they were both too tired to keep their eyes open - but such action had an unexpected consequence, so much Claude had trouble concentrating after a couple of minute spent distraught by the sight in front of him.

Dimitri was utterly unfocused. He kept reading the same page for ten long minutes when he would have previously read an entire chapter by that time, and he kept hitting the floor with his boot - the noise more than anything annoyed Claude, since he couldn’t hear any threat approaching him if he kept being so loud. And was it a blush he guessed, again, on his previously pristine cheeks?

The sight unsettled him for a dozen of reasons, and Claude couldn’t pick one.

“Hey, your Highness. You okay?” This would be the best moment to retreat to the dorms. If Dimitri couldn’t read and Claude neither, for oblivious different reasons then perhaps Claude could suggest to call it a night, and take advantage of Dimitri’s presence as a bodyguard despite himself - had anyone ever tried to harm him after Duscur? Most probably, Claude figured out, yet it didn’t show on his face, the fear of the invisible threat, the anguish of betrayal.

“Yes! Yes I’m, fine.” He answered too quickly. It was easy to see he was on edge. Had he spotted something unusual? A shadow behind Claude’s back? But then, why wasn’t he warning him? Was he part of the plan? Did his enemy go as far as plotting with other students- No, he knew Dimitri now, they had been acquaintances for moons now, and even with the battle of the Eagle and Lion in a couple of days he would never betray him this way.

“You seem...unresting? Is something bothering you?”

Dimitri put the book on the table. Its pages turned, making it impossible for him to know where he had stopped, but it didn’t seem to bother him. “Now that you mention it…” Claude watched him take a deep breath and, oh mother earth, what was happening? “I won’t say ‘bother’, but there is, undoubtedly, something troubling me.”

“Tonight?” Claude inquired. “Especially tonight?” As in, had he seen someone on his way here that could possibly be after one of their lives?

To his surprise the blush on Dimitri’s cheek only seemed to grow; he looked to the side, his book long forgotten. “I’d be lying if I said I only noticed it tonight. This...thing has been lurking in the corner of my mind for a while. A couple of weeks, I'd say.”

Claude held his breath. Had he witnessed any of the previous assassination attempt?

“Do you sometimes wonder why we keep meeting at the Library?”

He had not, in fact, taken much time to dwell on the matter - he figured out, long ago, that they shared the same fucked up sleeping schedule, and that the late hour of the night was utterly appropriate for mischief and digging ugly secrets. He hadn’t looked further than this.

More importantly, he couldn’t find the link with the people trying to harm him, despite the protection the Monastery gave him.

In front of his silence Dimitri tensed, he clenched his fists and his lips turned into a thin line. He looked down. “I figured you wouldn’t,” he muttered, more to himself than for Claude to hear, which left him with the uneasy feeling that he was missing something else, entirely, that with his mind sharpened to the extreme, programmed to detect any threat, as small as it was, Claude was now unable to see anything else, anything unharmful, pleasant almost, that passed in front of him - despite how obvious it could be.

“I’m, sorry.” He managed, somehow, and not really knowing why he should be - was he even sorry to begin with? Or did he say this just to speak, to break the uncomfortable silence? “I guess we are homework buddies. Or something approaching.” Except they weren’t doing homework and they weren't buddies at all, but they could work on that later.

Dimitri let out an empty laugh. “Sure. Why not.”

“What’s gotten you?” It would have to be blind not to see something was definitely off with Dimitri tonight and the more it lasted, the more Claude was convinced it had nothing to do with the invisible threat he felt under his skin but with  _ him _ , or them; had he done something wrong? Had he said something inappropriate? Had he hurt Dimitri in any way? If so, he needed to apologize, but not before knowing what kind of mischief he was charged with.

“Nothing. I just have some difficulty concentrating when you’re around.”

“Oh, is that so?” Claude let out the breath he’d been holding the whole time and leaned on the table, his chin resting on the palm of his hand. He let an idle smile illuminate his face. “Could you find me so handsome that it troubles your mind, Your Highness?” He mocked him, unprepared for the answer Dimitri delivered in a heartbeat, as quickly as he rose to his feet and knocked off the chair behind him.

“Precisely.” He said, after the racket was over, and he walked to the end of the Library with his book in hand, probably deciding their night reunion had reached its end, for none were in the mood to study, or talk about anything that could justify their presence here at this hour of the night.

Claude, on the other hand, couldn’t move a single muscle, not even bat an eye. Had he heard well? Did Dimitri just admit aloud he found him handsome? And enough to lose his concentration when he sat this close? After all this is the only thing that changed tonight - Claude sat closer yes, to Dimitri’s sword but fatally to the man wielding it as well, and then Dimitri got...flustered? How impossible did it sound?

He groaned. Now who was the flustered one?

It seemed Dimitri wasn’t the only one to be unsettled tonight, and thanks to his honest outburst Claude let his defense down for a second too long; he felt danger again but too late, he caught the sight of a shadow in the corner of his eyes but the moment he turned around, his eyes met a shining blade, sharp and aiming at his neck.

His dagger too far to hold to defend himself, Claude grasped the only object at reach, and never had been happier to have an unhealthy liking for heavy books. The thick leather cover contained the dagger far from his face and the impact destabilized his attacker as much as himself, surprised - as often - by his own reflexes and his spontaneous geniusness. The assassin cursed in Almyrian and abandoned his weapon to the book, which fell on the floor. He took another blade from around his hip the same moment Claude knelt to look for his own dagger, but both were stopped by the nasty sound of a face being punched and bones breaking at the impact, as Dimitri came back, hands empty of book but with a fist hungry for a good fight.

Claude’s attacker laid unconscious on the floor. He had lost a couple of teeth and his eye was blooched red. Dimitri probably broke all the bones on the side of his face.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a hurry.

Claude turned to him, still a bit stunned and breathless from the quick turn of events. “I think.” He didn’t say much more, afraid Dimitri might want to know why he was targeted, and for how long. If possible, he wanted to keep his heritage a secret as long as he could.

They knelt beside the assassin. “These clothes...he comes from the Abyss.” Dimitri took the man’s cape in his hand, his eyes stopping on the dirt and the awful state of his boots. “We should warn the Archbishop as soon as possible.”

“No, it’s alright.” Claude couldn’t let them interrogate him. He wore Abyssian clothes but judging by his looks and word he cursed, he was Almyrian, and this couldn’t be good news for him. How was he going to get out of this impossible situation, now that Dimitri saw? “I know who sent them to me. We would gain nothing but nurture tension within alliance territory and the academy if we put Lady Rhea in the confidence of this little misadventure we had.”

“Is that how you’re calling it? A little misadventure? Claude!” Dimitri sounds outraged. “He tried to kill you!”

“Wouldn’t be the first to try! And look, I’m still around. Thanks to you, this time,” Claude winked and Dimitri looked away, the blush was back on his face, the perfect effect to keep his mind away from his business. “My Prince, in shining armour. Or should I say dark and gloomy? Don’t misinterpret my words, black suits you quite well I must admit, but it’s not, well, shiny.”

Blood seemed to rush to Dimitri’s face, ears and even down his neck; it was just as fascinating to watch as discovering one of the Church’s many dirty secrets, to witness how Dimitri reacted to his provocation and so earnestly, how his pale skin was weak against embarrassment and so easily coloured, how much Claude could make him react with a few chosen words only. He took a moment to look at his face, to study it more deeply than he had done the moons prior. He stared shamelessly until he knew by heart the curve of his nose and jaw, the shape of his lips and eyes, the colour of his iris and he smirked when, frustrated to get this much unwanted attention, Dimitri glared back. “Claude. Stop this.”

“I trusted that you had to give my own face the same treatment I just gave yours.” The smile never disappeared from his lips. “It’s only fair, in a way, don’t you think?”

A frustrated sigh left Dimitri’s parted lips. Had they always been this rosy and full? “I would be most glad if you could stop playing with me for this little silliness. I regret already to have shared these thoughts with you. And if this is acceptable to you I will no longer disturb your studying time. I hope you’ll find a more suitable homework buddy, as you called me.”

“Wait, Dimitri, this is-”

“Let me help you with this one while he’s unconscious.” Dimitri took the assassin’s legs, silently asking Claude to do the same with his shoulders. “Let’s bring him back to where he came from and ask the people here to take care of him.”

This was perhaps the only viable solution offered to Claude, if he wanted to get rid of the man without killing him. They held him down the stairs, careful of knights’ patrol and silent cats following them around - they liked Claude a bit too much for his liking, since they reduced his discretion skills by half. He tried to keep the journey lively but Dimitri seemed to avoid his eyes and words like the plague.

“I didn’t mean it that way.” “We can still meet, what’s the problem?” “I’m sorry I stared at your face, but in my defense, it’s quite pretty to look at.” “Thank you for saving me, Dimitri.”

Only the last part got him a reply.

“Anytime. I was...I could never stay impassive when someone I care for is in danger.”

His grip on his assassin’s shoulders tightened, and Claude realized with fright that he had been more used to people trying to harm him than showing him affection, and he had no idea of how to deal with it.

As they entered the Abyss Dimitri put the man down and left Claude alone for a short while. He came back from the Library with Hapi. “Oh, Didi; who did you bring this time?”

“This time?” Claude repeated, amused.

“This person tried to harm Claude. Do you have any idea of who it might be?”

Hapi knelt to stare at the man’s face, “I don’t know, but I’ll ask Yuri...ah, I guess it’s too late. Look.” She raised the man's chin, foam escaped from his mouth. He was dead, poisoned. Claude let out of breath.

“Must have had a capsule hidden in his mouth.” He murmured.

“How convenient.” Dimitri seemed more troubled than he was, and Hapi quickly noticed, but chose not to share.

“What could you have done to deserve such a nasty friend?” She asked him. “You seem pretty inoffensive to me.”

“You know what they say,” he replied, his arms behind his head, a wink on his face, “Never judge a book by its cover.”

With that, he climbed the stairs to the surface without looking back. A moment later he heard footsteps closing the distance; Dimitri had followed him.

“I’m not foolish enough to leave you alone after someone tried to kill you. What if someone else comes to finish the job?”

“I can defend myself pretty well, but thank you for the concern. You weren’t there the last few times it occured and it seemed I managed just fine. See?”

“How...how long has this been going on? Who’s after you? Are you sure we shouldn’t have the Archbishop informed?”

“Nah, please, anything but that. I’m surprised you aren’t the target of such attacks yourself, afterall you’re the heir to the thrones. After what happened to your family, one would think it natural to finish what they have started.”

When Dimitri didn’t reply Claude knew he had crossed a line he shouldn’t have. It was obvious that despite how much he tried to conceal his feelings, Dimitri was still mourning his father’s death, and all the people who died that night along with him, and which Claude hadn’t known about.

“I’m sorry. That was truly insensitive from my part.”

“It’s nothing. You’re not supposed to know exactly what happened that night.”

“No, but,” they halted in front of Claude’s room. “But if you’d like to talk about it one night, I’d love to hear.”

“To clench your curiosity?” Dimitri said with a sad smile on his face.

“No. To help a friend.”

Claude offered his hand, a truce, a meeting point. If he was still puzzled by the interest Dimitri showed to him, he didn’t mind it, on the contrary. He had seen a side of him he had never seen before tonight, and it only pushed him to spend more time together. The Prince had more in him than what he let appear.

“See you tomorrow night?” He said.

Dimitri took his time to return the handshake.

“Okay. Tomorrow night.”

“I promise I’ll occupy a table at the opposite side. If you need me to.”

Dimitri snorted, more by embarrassment and surprise than because he found Claude funny. “That won’t be necessary. Now that the truth is out of my chest, I found your face less intimidating to stare at.”

“Good to hear!”

They shook hands for too long before eventually, Dimitri fled to his room with hasty steps, leaving Claude behind and pensive as for what would happen to them in the near future. Would they be friends? It would Claude’s first, real one - he tried to hush the happiness that bloomed in his chest, it was still too soon to rejoice, and even if they did get along well, Dimitri would never know him truly, Claude would always hide a piece of him, the most important one, away from his eyes and heart, the one he’s being targeted for.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> As usual if you liked it you can support and encourage me by leaving a kudos and share my work ! If you really liked it, please leave me a comment :D  
> You can follow me [on twitter](https://twitter.com/doctor_queenie) for more !


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